Children's home run by Hexagon Care Services Limited in Preston

Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 1 SC479647 Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for six children. The current admission criteria are for young people who have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and who require a medium- to long-term placement. The home forms part of a large social care company.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since June 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/07/2018 Full Good 09/04/2018 Full Inadequate 02/05/2017 Full Good 13/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the damaged furniture in the games room is replaced. Marked and damaged walls and doors should be painted and repaired. 30/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is necessary and proportionate; 30/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 4 is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the games room should not be locked, unless there are assessed safeguarding reasons for it to be so.

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on a school roll for some reason, the registered person must work closely with the placing authority and school, so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15) Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, several young people have moved into the home, some of whom have already left. Despite the short nature of some of those placements, the registered manager had taken appropriate steps to assess and plan for young people’s arrival. The decision to end the placements early was based on young people’s needs. Staff managed young people’s transitions out of the home well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have good relationships with staff: they are playful but respectful. This is because staff are caring and compassionate in their approach. As a result, young people learn to trust staff and feel secure in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people said that they have fun and never get bored. Staff ensure that young people have lots of activities to do. These include fishing, baking and playing football. One staff member commented, ‘The house is always full of laughter.’ This helps young people to grow in confidence and feel happy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support young people to be healthy. The registered manager utilises input from health professionals, such as the looked after children’s nurse, to develop new ways of promoting young people’s health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the importance of young people accessing education. The registered manager ensures that education arrangements are in place from the outset of young people’s placements. Young people who have previously not engaged with education are enabled to do so. This is because they have good routines and receive lots of praise and encouragement to attend.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Notwithstanding this progress, one young person still struggles to attend school every day. Staff use a variety of strategies and incentives to overcome the barriers to his attending. This proves to be effective most of the time. However, staff have been slow to implement a new long-term incentive plan, following the successful completion of the previous one. This is a potential missed opportunity to help maintain and improve the attendance of the young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, some areas of the home have undergone refurbishment. Despite this, certain aspects of the home appear tired and in need of redecoration. Wear and tear to doors and walls are noticeable. A couch in the games room is ripped and marked. However, this has had little impact on young people, who said that they like the way that the home looks and cannot identify any areas for improvement.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people’s vulnerabilities are understood well by staff. Staff implement and follow Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 6 strategies to try to minimise the potential risk of harm to young people. When new risks emerge, staff act quickly and, with the input of other agencies, identify plans to keep young people safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Some young people who have gone missing while in previous placements no longer display such behaviours. This is because they like living at the home, they feel safe and they have staff who will listen to them.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

In contrast, another young person has gone missing frequently. Staff’s responses to such incidents have been excellent. Staff have employed all options to locate, return and keep the young person in placement. The intelligence gathering completed by staff has contributed significantly to the multi-agency planning to safeguard the young person. Staff have worked hand-in-hand with the local authority, police and others to share information and respond to this difficult situation. Staff have shown a strong determination and resilience in the actions they have taken in responding to these incidents of going missing.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are successful at promoting young people’s positive behaviours. Staff and young people describe the home as ‘settled’. One young person told the inspector that they are rarely given sanctions for their behaviour, because if staff tell them not to do something they do not do it. This is because young people listen to staff’s advice and understand what is expected of them. This means that physical interventions are rarely required and are only used as a last resort. Management oversight of such intervention is good. This ensures that there are no missed opportunities to learn lessons and improve behaviour management approaches.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff undertake direct work sessions and have day-to-day conversations with young people on how to stay safe in the community and online. Young people learn the skills they need to make safe choices.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff habitually lock the games room during the day. This is not based on the safeguarding needs of current young people. However, the impact on young people has been limited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is relatively new in post. Despite this, he presents as an accomplished manager who has created a supportive and positive culture for staff and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been a number of staff changes since the last inspection. Positively, the home has a full staff team. The registered manager has worked hard to ensure that the appointment of new staff has not had an unnecessary impact on the consistency of care provided to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff have varying levels of experience. However, staff benefit from a Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 7 comprehensive induction and access to a varied training programme. This ensures that they have knowledge and skills to meet the needs of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager utilises supervisions and team meetings well. These forums provide staff with opportunities to learn and develop their skills. Staff work well together, sharing ideas on how best to support young people. This child-focused approach is central to the progress made by young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The leadership team members work in harmony and act as good role models for young people and less experienced staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good communication is at the heart of the effective links with partner agencies. Staff successfully contribute and support the multi-agency care planning for young people. This helps to keep young people safe and promote their welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal and external monitoring systems mean that the registered manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas of development. This ensures that young people receive care in line with the home’s statement of purpose.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hexagon Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tustin Court, Port Way, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire PR2 2YQ

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC479647 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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